Google Copies Apple Again With ‘Campfire’

That Google copies from Apple is nothing new. After all, most technology companies copy something from each other all the time. Copying isn’t new.

What Google has planned for Chromebooks, assuming the rumors that have surfaced to date are anywhere near accurate, is something of a copycat move from Apple’s Boot Camp. Boot Camp? Yes, that’s Apple technology that lets Windows 10 boot up from a Mac. Google wants Windows 10 to run on Linux-based Chromebooks.

Strange Bedfellows

Thanks to federal government intervention in the last century, some PC manufacturers have PC notebooks which have multiple operating systems installed. Run Windows 10. Or, run Linux. The Mac’s Boot Camp allows a Mac user to dual boot– startup under macOS or startup under Windows.

The Mac, however, has the ability to run Windows 10 and various versions of Linux inside of macOS High Sierra (and a few older versions of macOS), and all at the same time if you have the hardware horsepower.

Why would Google want a Chromebook, which runs Chrome OS (itself something of a homegrown version of Linux), to run Windows 10?

Value.

A Chromebook that can run Chrome OS, run Android applications, and even dual boot into Windows 10 adds value to the platform without any risk for Google. Microsoft isn’t just the purveyor of Windows. Microsoft is in the PC hardware business, too, with its line of touchscreen Surface notebook tablet hybrids. Google is a hardware maker, too, with the Pixel smartphones and Pixel Chromebooks.

I suspect that such dual boot options will not show up on the least expensive Chromebooks because Microsoft’s pricing for Windows drops for cheaper devices. Instead, I expect Windows to be a dual boot option on the more expensive Google-branded Pixel Chromebooks which have higher hardware specifications.

Google copies Apple. Microsoft copies Apple. Apple appropriates various features and functions wherever they exist and whenever they help advance the company’s objectives.

An expensive Chromebook with a dual boot capability probably won’t do much to compete against the Mac line which not only dual boots to almost any OS, but also runs multiple operating systems at the same time within macOS.

A cheap-assed Chromebook that could run Windows, various flavors of Linux, and macOS would be a killer device, though.

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About Jack Miller

I work for a US technology company in Paris, France and switched from Windows PCs to the Mac 20 years ago. My wife said it would improve our marriage, give us more friends, and reduce stress. I guess that two out of three isn't bad. Read more of my articles here.